Most often, a player is deemed the Most Valuable Player not because of his gaudy numbers, but rather, what he brings to the team and how he lifts the team to be a winner. That was how LeBron James, no matter how much he disappeared in the playoffs, can be best described. Winning is what Kobe Bryant lived for during his MVP season. And Tim Duncan kept the spurs in constant title contention through the years. Steve Nash didn’t need to average 20-plus points during his MVP campaign; he just needed to find guys and make them score. That is how an MVP is defined. Take the said star player out, and watch his team crumble and grope for form.
Sadly, that isn’t the trend in the UAAP. The league bases the awarding solely on the stats garnered by 125 candidates all throughout the elimination rounds. Sure, Parks led the league in scoring with a Mac Cardona-esque 20 points per game, 6.5 rebounds per game, 2.9 assists per game and 1.1 steals per game. But those gaudy stats meant nothing in the end as his NU Bulldogs whimpered to fifth place and crashed out of the Final Four just when everybody thought they are finally going to catch the bus.
The situation was funny, so to speak. For if we compare (well, just for the award’s sake) him with a past MVP winner in the NBA, namely Dirk Nowitzki during that disastrous playoff run against the Golden State Warriors, Dirk still deserved to be MVP among the rest since he singlehandedly towed the Dallas Mavericks to the best record in the NBA. Sure, they slipped when the games became real, but it does not discount the fact that they got into the playoffs and he is a winner. Parks, on the other hand, was not able to bring NU close to the Final Four. Worse, what was a promising 7-7 win-loss record last season became uglier at 6-8. He may be electric, but that’s just it, at least I hope, for now.
Come to think of it, Bobby Ray Parks had the coach, the supporting cast and even the renewed fan base to get into the Final Four. But what I saw was that he kept Emmanuel Mbe from getting his touches, and mind you, Mbe was an MVP candidate last year. You cannot blame him fully though, for those outside Mbe have produced zilch. Ice Villamor was just a tad bit better than the rest but you see the point. Parks had to play point guard, shooting guard, small forward and power forward since the guys at those positions gave nothing in return. In the end, he was forced to take all the shots for himself alone, pad his stats, and hope he can go 1-on-5 and win.
Now, this begs the question, who should have been MVP? For the sake of being unbiased, I’m throwing the El Tres Aguilas out of the contention since Kiefer Ravena, Nico Salva and Greg Slaughter took turns leading the Ateneo Blue Eagles over the course of the season leading up to the Final Four.
So aside from those three, who else do we have? Oh, come on, let’s not forget that the reigning MVP still should have been the MVP this season. RR Garcia may start the game slow, but come the second half, there’s no denying the man his points. He just scores in a myriad of ways and with that quick three that sees nothing but the bottom of the net. This should have been a repeat campaign.
Another one who should be in contention is Aldrech “The Beast of the Far East” Ramos. The guy was just solid in all facets. He may never be the back-your-man-down type of big man but you have to give it to him for snaring rebounds and single-handedly holding the fort for FEU on defense. Then you can’t discount a fine performance from Jeric Fortuna. He is the man for UST as much as they go through Karim Abdul. Take him out, the Tigers are listless. There’s no direction and everything goes haywire. Put him back in, he stabilizes them and makes them function like a well-oiled machine.
Let us also not discount the efforts Alex Nuyles and Lester Alvarez have put out for the Adamson Falcons. Both Nuyles and Alvarez upped their play as the years went by, transforming the Adamson Falcons to perennial Final Four contender and national power in the PCCL. Without these two, Adamson would not have been able to defeat Ateneo and got 0-30 streak instead of breaking it. However, these two function with each other. There’s no defined MVP between them. Take one out, the other sputters. They cannot carry a team by themselves and have to rely on a second, or sidekick, to keep them afloat, but that’s just what I observed.
With all of these said, I hope the UAAP abolishes this statistical points rule. I say, add a kicker to it. Or a contention for that matter. Let it read: “lead the league in statistical points garnered AND must belong to a Final Four team.” Would it not be more rewarding for the stars of the Final Four teams to have their efforts recognized duly? After all, they worked their butts out to get their school a slot in the Final Four. Come on Andy Jao, wow me.